American Journal of Primatology 72:785–793 (2010) COMMENTARY Putting the Community Back in Community Ecology and Education: The Role of Field Schools and Private Reserves in the Ethical Training of Primatologists P.A. GARBER 1Ã , A. MOLINA 2 , AND R.L. MOLINA 3 1 Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 2 Hacienda Merida and Ometepe Biological Field Station, Volcan Maderas, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua 3 Maderas Rainforest conservancy and La Suerte Biological Field Station, Cariari, Pococi, Limon, Costa Rica In 1993 and 1999, with the assistance of a Nicaraguan family, we founded La Suerte Biological Research Station in northeastern Costa Rica and Ometepe Biological Research Station in southern Nicaragua as a privately owned conservation-oriented business. Our goal was to develop a program of sustainable community ecology focused on education, research, and the conservation of primates and tropical forests. In order to accomplish this we developed field courses in which undergraduate and graduate students conduct scientific research, experience local cultures, and learn about conservation. Over 120 of these students have received doctoral degrees or are currently in graduate programs. Four doctoral dissertations, several MA theses, and some 20 scientific articles have been published based on research conducted at our field stations. In order to achieve our long-term goals of preserving the environment, we also needed to engage directly with local communities to address their needs and concerns. To this end, we developed a series of community-based initiatives related to health care, bilingual education, and conservation education using traditional and on-line teaching tools. In this article, we describe our efforts in Costa Rica and Nicaragua teaching conservation-oriented field courses and working with the local human communities. Building upon these experiences, we outline a set of ethical considerations and responsibilities for private reserves, conservation-oriented businesses, NGOs, and conservancies that help integrate members of the local community as stakeholders in conservation. Am. J. Primatol. 72:785–793, 2010. r 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Key words: ethics; conservation education; field school; sustainable community ecology INTRODUCTION Humans are primates just as lemurs, monkeys, and apes are primates. Although this is obvious from evolutionary, genetic, and behavioral perspectives, primatologists and field biologists have sometimes treated the human primate component of an ecosys- tem as something distinct or separate from the nonhuman primate component of that ecosystem. In some cases the human component has been totally ignored or viewed as a hostile agent, despite the fact that our long-term efforts to protect, conserve, and study the nonhuman primate community are inex- tricably linked to our efforts to form long-term partnerships and mutually beneficial relationships with the local human communities [Dolhinow, 2002; Estrada et al., 2006; Strier, 2002]. In this regard, we use the term sustainable community ecology to describe our efforts and ethical responsibilities at La Suerte Biological Research Station, Costa Rica and Ometepe Biological Research Station, Nicaragua to use the tools of education, field schools, and research to preserve and expand tropical forests and protect wildlife, and to provide incentives for the local community to become an important stakeholder in rainforest conservation. Background and Brief History of La Suerte In 1987 the Molina’s, a Nicaraguan family purchased a 700 ha farm (hereafter referred to as La Suerte) and cattle ranch in the Atlantic lowland rainforest region of northeastern Costa Rica (10126 0 N, 83146 0 W). As a working farm La Suerte originally had some 500 head of cattle and an orchard of over 1,000 trees (palm hearts or pejibaye, Bactris Published online 29 April 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ajp.20837 Received 3 February 2010; revised 4 March 2010; revision accepted 29 March 2010 Ã Correspondence to: P.A. Garber, 607 South Mathews Ave, 109 Davenport Hall, Urbana, IL 61801. E-mail: p-garber@Illinois.edu r r 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.